May 26, 2012

Where does the time go? How am I so busy? Who put all of this crap in my office? Why did ABC cancel GCB?

These days it seems like all I can deal with is whatever is right in front of me and today it's more calendars! In fact, calendars make up a lot of the aforementioned crap cluttering up my office - boxes of the flip cases, stacks of the printed months, more stacks of cover sheets. Anyway.....

Here are a two months done with the Tree For All Reasons. I used the new Deadbeat alphabet to spell "june" and drew a line connecting the trees. I finally got some of the new Memento colors which I am loving! That's Love Letter for the letters, Espresso Truffle for the trees and some Pistachio and a hint of Teal Zeal in the leaves with some of the older greens. I masked off the calendar part on this one so the background would remain white...

...but on this one I cut a wavy mask to give me hills and stippled color all over. I also used the smaller tree to give some perspective. More stippling for the sky and some fall colors for the leaves. I bet some clever person could do a whole calendar using just the trees in various colors and themes. Maybe I'll add that task to my list. After someone cleans up my office.

Next Sunday I'll be at Felicia's Scrapbooks in Austin teaching Bodacious Backgrounds again. We've got another full class so unless you've reserved your spot, you're out of luck! See y'all next week!

May 21, 2012

I spent yesterday with a group of attractive and enthusiastic women at Googly Eyes and Craft Supplies in Irving, Texas. It was the first Bodacious Backgrounds class and we managed to fit 15 or so background techniques into 2 hours, filling a reference book of sorts. Everyone seemed to have a great time and things went so smoothly thanks to Meg and her staff. Of course, my mind was all over the place making sure every table had enough supplies and that everyone was keeping up so I completely forgot to take photos. My camera was sitting right next to my giant Sonic cup of tea but did I notice? No! So instead of a picture of people working intently on their projects, here are a couple of things I did with the new Deadbeat Alphabet.

What? There's a new alphabet?

Yes, there is! There are actually two versions... one is a larger upper case only and the other is a little smaller, uppercase, lowercase and numbers, as well as some punctuation. They come unmounted (on cling mount for your acrylic blocks) and untrimmed so you'll have some work to do if you buy them! And as usual, they're not on the website yet but will be soon.

First is an envelope that would probably not make it through the mail thanks to the googly eyes stuck in to the O's. Here are both the larger upper case and smaller upper/lower for the address.

I've got a drawer full of alphabets I've aquired over the last 30 years (crap! I'm old!) from other companies - I was kind of addicted for awhile. But since I make samples for a lot of stores, I can't really use them since most are either discontinued or from companies that no longer exist. So now when I need to add a word to a card or to personalize a sample like the one below, I can claim the alphabet as my own!Here is the current Bodacious Backgrounds schedule. I may be adding a few stores to the list so stay tuned!

May 14, 2012

Things have been hopping around here lately. Between filling rubber stamp orders, drawing some new images for Lynn's big event in Ft. Lauderdale and getting ready for the upcoming Bodacious Backgrounds classes, I've hardly had time to drink! I mean THINK! (- cuz I'll always have time for a cocktail).

Another time-filling project has been a 2013 stampable desk calendar. That's right - 2013! Of course, all my hard work may be in vain if the Mayans (or any number of crazy cults) are correct and the world ends this year! But I can't worry about that. These come in a CD cases which flip around and make their own stands. Anyway, I'll have more information on these soon...

Here's one of the samples for the calendar. I masked the top and bottom, leaving just the part I wanted to stamp. Next came the roses, stamped in black and then masked as well. I love using Eclipse Tape to mask but for multiples I usually stamp on a Post-It Note and cut 2 or 3 out at a time. So the roses are masked and then I sponged a little blue and purple and added the Large and Small Spirals. Kind of looks like the roses are floating in water, right? Anyway, once the masks are removed, I colored the roses with colored pencils. It's always better to color after masking since the masks will stick better to uncolored paper.

We're still working on Lynn's Stamp Lauderdale blog. I'll include the new link when we get it ready if you want to subscribe. You can still see the original version and reserve your spot for the Stamp Lauderdale Retreat in September.

The class next weekend at Googly Eyes is completely full! See y'all on Sunday!

May 07, 2012

Also, I'll be teaching at Lynn's Stamp Lauderdale Retreat September 7 - 10! Oh, you haven't heard? Well check out Lynn's brand new blog for the details. We're working on lots of new stamps and there will be 3 different classes plus make and takes... and you know Lynn - party, party, party! She's gone all out and booked a beautiful hotel right on the beach! She has reserved a block of rooms with ocean views - Lynn got a discounted rate of only $119 a night and you can have up to 4 per room so it's a real bargain! But these rooms are saved for a limited time so don't wait too long! Also, check Southwest for cheap airfares. It's going to be great!

On her blog you'll find a link to the hotel so you can book online. Lynn even has a Paypal button for you to pay separately for the classes - she's really coming into the 21st century! You can subscribe to her blog if you want more info or if you just want to see what's going on.

May 04, 2012

First of all, if you've been ignoring my blog lately you may not know about Bodacious Backgrounds. I'll be teaching at a few stores and from what I hear, sign ups are going strong! I just talked to Meg at Googly Eyes in Irving and she said that there are only a few spots left! So if you are interested, here are the dates:

And if you HAVE been ignoring my blog lately, good for you! Hope you've been getting stuff done rather than wasting it on the internet!

Since Cinco de Mayo is this Saturday, I thought I'd recycle a couple of cards. Here's Hola...

Her name was Hola, she was a showgirl

With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there....

Easily distracted? Yes! A Fanilow? Not exactly. In fact, I'm regretting putting that song in my head.

Anyway, this is all done with a Kaleidacolor pad, Calypso I think. Or maybe Spectrum. The fringe makes a great rug especially when paired with the Wood Background stamp. And just in case you're wondering if this is a technique I'll be using in Bodacious Backgrounds, the answer is NO. There's no way I'm letting you people loose with my rainbow pads! By the end of class they would all be brown! Besides, this just isn't quite bodacious enough.

She walked up to me and she asked me to dance

I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said Hola

H-O-L-A, Hola. Ho-ho-ho-ho Hola.

Gotta love The Kinks....

Anyway, here's Hola again wearing a sombrero on a slightly more bodacious background with the Fringe and Island Border stamps. Reds, oranges and a little purple dragged around the edges.